Beyond the national curriculum, what do you think are the key experiences to gain at Almond Hill?

I am very grateful that parents were able to go into such detail in response to this question. There was so much positive feedback that we have collated some of the words used to provide a snapshot of the responses. It’s particularly fantastic to see words like gratitude and empathy being used after having a focus on these values.

On the other hand, some parents said they didn’t feel there was much to offer aside from the usual curriculum. Last year, I understand that some trips were cancelled and although this was beyond our control, I know this was disappointing for those affected. This year, all year groups have at least one trip planned (some have already happened) including the Year 5 trip to the Space Centre, free cinema trips for all year groups, the Year 4 Faith Tour, Zoology trips, trips to the museum, our annual residential trip for Year 6 to Grafham Water as well as lots of other in school events like our recent Feeling Good Week. We are always conscious when arranging trips as we know there is a cost involved for parents but do feel it is important for children to have opportunities to go on school trips. We have also increased our offer of school clubs by investing in clubs run by Premier Education. We also have a well established school choir for children in the upper school and our ECO committee and Journalist club, as well as teacher led after school clubs which are free of charge.

As a school with high expectations for behaviour and learning where hard work is greatly valued, we believe taking advantage of occasional opportunities like trips to the cinema where there is no cost involved and that complement the curriculum are a good idea. We are also aware that for some children, trips to the cinema happen very rarely or not at all. However, given that we are always interested to know what you think, the best way to gather your feedback is to ask. Your feedback will help us to plan future events.

Every year, children at Almond Hill vote for their Prime Minister and government. Children in Year 6 are invited to form ‘parties’ and canvas children for their votes. Each party has to come up with a school, local, national and international pledge that they promise to fulfil throughout the year. All children had to the chance to vote for this year’s school government. The votes have been checked and verified and I am pleased to tell you that the winners were the Mini Meerkats! Well done to Willow, Abbie, Harmony, Bonnie, Alexia and Roman.

Please be reminded the School Nursing Team will be in school on Tuesday 28^th November to give flu immunisations to those children with consent.

We are really looking forward to seeing parents and carers at our coffee morning on 30th November where Mrs Burgess and Mrs Birchall will be there to offer support and advice to parents about all things SEND and/or pastoral. I am also incredibly pleased to tell you one of our parents has offered to join us for the session. This particular parent has extensive personal experience about what it is like to have a child with SEND and pastoral needs. She is happy to offer support to parents who are in a similar situation to herself and her family having faced barriers throughout the primary school journey but with the help of school, has seen her child gain the necessary support to flourish in a secondary school provision. I am very grateful she is giving her time to offer families and carers a parent's view and I am sure there are many parents who could benefit from hearing about her experience. Please do come along.

On Thursday 30^th November, we are inviting all parents from Year 4 and 5 to come in and join us for a DT afternoon as part of our Autumn term engagement events. Parents with children across both year groups are able to visit children in both classes and can move freely between the two. We will be trialling a QR signing in system to (hopefully) make it quicker for parents to sign in. Please bear with us. Children from Year 6 will be helping to support this event by showing you to your child’s class. The afternoon will start at 1.30pm (but please don’t worry if you can’t get to us until later, the doors will remain open) and will finish at 2.45pm to allow parents to collect siblings from Letchmore. You are very welcome to take children home at 2.45pm from any of the classes as you leave. Please go to the classroom door where your child will be signed out by the class teacher. If your child is in Year 6, please go to the front of Acorn House where a member of the Year 6 team will assist you. Only children that are being collected by their own parents/carers may be allowed to leave before 3.15pm.

The booking system for the musical closed today. We will now work out how many tickets we still have available and will be in touch with parents to let you know when the system will reopen to allow you to book any additional tickets. This will be on a first come first served basis. We will allow parents to book one additional ticket and will open the system in the evening to allow a fair chance for working parents too.

Please can I remind parents that the facility to ‘drop and go’ is for the mornings only. In the afternoons, there is an expectation that parents park, get out of the car and collect their children from their classrooms. This is to keep all children safe as having unattended children walking through the car park presents a significant health and safety risk. Parents should not walk through any of the vehicle gates. This models to children that this is safe behaviour when it isn't. There are pedestrian gates either side of the vehicle gates. Please see the illustration below for a reminder.